Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Matt 11:28-29

I went to the link, and I was frankly stunned by Medved’s comments. He even twists the logic to the point that he believes Mr. Harris must be concerned about going to hell. Rigid thinking people will never understand the limits of their capacity for thought.

He seems not to understand the problem atheists have. Yeah these people may do a tremendous amount of good. Fine. Believing in a personal god has nothing to do with doing good. His whole argument seems to be. “Why demonize christians they give to charity?” If this guy is considered an “intellectual” conservative then that says something pretty sad. Secondly nobody’s criticizing them for giving to charity the criticism is that their beliefs are outdated and unwarranted. Instead of having that debate people like Michael Medved whine “Stop picking on christians they do nice things.” Becasue he couldn’t win a debate that was confined to substance.

Mr. Harris, in other words, seems to worry about people assuming he’s bound for damnation because in one corner of his mind, at least, he fears they may be right.

Where has he said that he’s worried about going to hell? I’d like to see Medved point out one instance of Sam saying he’s afraid of hell. He’s criticized peoples fear of hell, but never to my knowledge stated fear as his reason.

[color=red]These volumes—duly published and promoted by prestigious major imprints—all seethe with fear, resentment, paranoia and hysterical hatred toward citizens who have perpetrated the unspeakable crime of upholding traditional and Christian religious values.

Why shouldn’t people fear religion when we have seen what it is capable of? Why shouldn’t I or anybody else resent ignorance foisted on me as the height of wisdom? Paranoia is irrational and there are perfectly reasonable points to be afraid of fundamentalism gone haywire.What traditional and christian religious values? Impeding the cause of knowledge and medical research? Halting human progress in the arena of social justice by quoting religious texts? Why shouldn’t I be offended by a mass of american public officials who have nothing to offer the real debates we could be having by acting as if the christina majority is in the right on every social issue just by being in the majority.

It’s up to Medved to provide evidence that the Torah is REALLY the inspired word of God.

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...it has to put into the equation: the possibility that there is no God and nothing works for the best. I don’t necessarily subscribe to that view, but I don’t know what I do subscribe to. Why do I have to have a world view? I mean, when I wrote Cujo, I wasn’t even old enough to be president. Maybe when I’m frty or forty-five, but I don’t now. I’m just trying on all these hats.
-Stephen King